1. Field of Invention
The invention concerns an implement for applying a liquid to a support by means of an applicator element.
2. Description of the Related Art
An implement is known from DE 41 15 682 and will now be described with reference to FIG. 11.
Provided within a casing 2 is a divider wall 4, above which a supply of freely movable liquid 6 is accommodated in the casing. Above the liquid 6 is a volume of air 7 which increasingly replaces the liquid as it is discharged.
At its lower end the casing 2 has a tapering front portion 8 with a through opening in which is held a wick 10 terminating in a writing tip 12 serving as an applicator element. Extending laterally beside the wick 10 through the front portion 8 is a vent bore 14. A storage means 16 of capillary material which closely embraces the wick 10 is accommodated in the space between the front portion 8 and the divider wall 4. The wick 10 completely fills an opening 18 provided in the divider wall 4 so that only the wick 10 projects into the liquid 6.
The capillarities of the wick 10 and the storage means 16 are matched to each other in such a way that the capillarity of the storage means 16 is less than that of the wick 10. It will be appreciated that the wick 10 does not involve a uniform degree of capillarity as it has larger and smaller spacings between its fibers or includes statistically distributed pores.
The important consideration is that the mean capillarity of the wick 10 in the region of the opening 18 is greater than the mean capillarity of the storage means 16. That ensures that, when passing the implement over a support which is to be written upon with the writing tip 12, liquid is sucked by capillary action through the wick 10 out of the supply of liquid in the casing 2 on to the support and at the same time air passes into the interior of the casing through the larger pores in the wick 10, within the opening 18, in order to replace the liquid which has been discharged in the writing operation. Because the storage means 16 involves a lower level of capillarity or larger capillaries in comparison with the capillaries of the wick 10 which serve for the feed of air to the liquid 6, the storage means 16 which is directly in contact with the wick 10 is not sucked full with liquid so that its volume is available as a buffer volume if liquid is urged out of the supply of liquid into the wick for example due to thermal expansion of the air volume 7. In that way the implement of FIG. 11 is extremely leak-proof in spite of a very large supply of liquid.
A particularity of that device is that the liquid to be applied to a support has to flow through the entire wick 10, which naturally gives rise to a high level of flow resistance which limits the amount of ink issuing from the writing tip 12. In practical operation that has the result from time to time that, when writing quickly or when quickly applying liquid, the implement does not give a satisfactory writing or application trace or image on the support.
It is an object of the invention to improve a liquid applicator implement as mentioned above as to permit a satisfactory applying of liquid to a support under widely varying conditions and using considerably different liquids.
A solution of this object is provided with an implement for applying liquid to a support including: a container for a freely movable liquid; a capillary storage means for temporarily receiving liquid upon a change in air pressure and/or temperature of the environment; an applicator element formed as a writing, drawing or brush tip or a print element; a capillary air inlet for compensation of liquid taken from the container; characterized in that a passage for conveying bridges partially or entirely over the distance between the container with liquid and the applicator element which passage is not directly in communication with the storage means and is of a lower capillary than that of the storage means.
In the implement according to the invention the liquid does not have to cover a long distance through a medium with a high level of capillarity, but is passes through a passage of low capillarity directly to the applicator element which therefore can be of a correspondingly short configuration and which no longer has a high level of flow resistance in regard to the liquid to be applied to a support, even with a high degree of capillarity.
Accordingly even large amounts of liquid can be applied to the support in a short time with the implement according to the invention, that is to say it is possible to write quickly, print very fast and so on.
Appended subclaims are directed toward advantageous embodiments of the inventive implement.